4th Match - Afghanistan v Australia

[trundler]

I mean, GoodAreasShane or maybe Stephen at one point predicted that Australia will lose to Afghanistan. Take what you can get.

 

[aussie tragic]

Pretty sure Aus are better off 4th than 7th or 8th which is where they'd be if they lost the game by trying to score unnecessarily quickly

To overtake Eng they only needed to score 9 balls faster (i.e. 208 off 33.2 instead of their 34.5). Hardly should result in them losing and any balls quicker would have been a bonus.

I just have a feeling NRR is going to decide who's in the finals, so would just prefer them to be a bit more ruthless and take every opportunity to be above England.

 

[stephen]

I mean, GoodAreasShane or maybe Stephen at one point predicted that Australia will lose to Afghanistan. Take what you can get.

Nah it wasn't me. Despite my pessimism I'm pretty sure that only England is clearly ahead of Australia at the moment. Every other side has glaring weaknesses (including Australia) and Australia are definitely ahead of Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. SA, India, England and possibly the West Indies will give us some trouble. Basically any side with batsmen who can play cricket when the ball bounces above waist high. And even then India only qualifies because of Kohli and Dhoni.

 

[h_hurricane]

Nah it wasn't me. Despite my pessimism I'm pretty sure that only England is clearly ahead of Australia at the moment. Every other side has glaring weaknesses (including Australia) and Australia are definitely ahead of Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. SA, India, England and possibly the West Indies will give us some trouble. Basically any side with batsmen who can play cricket when the ball bounces above waist high. And even then India only qualifies because of Kohli and Dhoni.

SA looks out of depth. AB and Morkel have retired and there is a huge question mark over Steyn's fitness. No adequate replacements for players of that quality. Amla has declined sharply as well.

 

[Borges]

Australia would need to bowl a lot better against the stronger teams.

 

[stephen]

Australia would need to bowl a lot better against the stronger teams.

Despite skittling Afghanistan there were a few overs where Australia let the middle overs get away from them.

 

[Borges]

It's not just the middle overs; the scorecard flatters the Aussie bowlers because they got too many gift wickets.
If they bowl the same way against England, they will get slaughtered.

 

[GoodAreasShane]

I mean, GoodAreasShane or maybe Stephen at one point predicted that Australia will lose to Afghanistan. Take what you can get.

Yeah, nah

 

[Burgey]

Hassan looks world class. 140s, accurate, gets movement. Best bowler on show yesterday.

Not really

 

[Burgey]

I understand that the WI & NZ NRR could not be matched but SA scored 207 vs Eng, which is the exact same score (and similar overs) as Afghanistan got . So Aus could have tried to at least beat that with so many wkts in hand.

I know its a long tournament

Don’t worry about it. It’s a WC not a meaningless series. They’ll flog those sides anyway and win it without dropping a game. Closest they’ll be tested is by WI this week.

 

[Top_Cat]

It's amazing to me how quickly Afghanistan have looked like they belong with their first generation of international cricketers.

Doing on the back of their bowlers too when it's usually the opposite.

 

[Daemon]

Not really

You didn’t even watch the chase it was past your bed time

But go on then, who was better?

 

[Gob]

You didn’t even watch the chase it was past your bed time

But go on then, who was better?

Zamps

 

[Burgey]

You didn’t even watch the chase it was past your bed time

But go on then, who was better?

Well, Custard Nuts, call me cynical but if he’s a better bowler than Pat Cummins then I’ll eat my hat.

 

[Daemon]

Well, Custard Nuts, call me cynical but if he’s a better bowler than Pat Cummins then I’ll eat my hat.

Was pretty obvious I meant that he put in the best performance of any bowler yesterday

 

[Burgey]

You need to be clearer. That’s not what you said at all. Lift your game or it’s going to be a long WC for you. Come on.

 

[Arachnodouche]

Australia will go far in this tournament. They look old school solid and have an air of determination about them.

 

[the big bambino]

Despite being trash for most of the 2 years leading up to WC, I thought Aus could win it with Warner and Smith returning complimenting our bowling. My optimism is a little shakier after Haze and Jhye Richardson went down with injuries but we can't afford an injury to Starc or Cummins. Opening up with Dorff, NCN or Kane R would have me rethinking our chances.